Portal:Association football

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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.

The game of association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the IFAB since 1886. The game is played with a football that is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference. The two teams compete to score goals by getting the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and fully across the goal line). When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may also use any other part of their body, such as their head, chest, and thighs, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and that only within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. There are situations where a goal can be disallowed, such as an offside call or a foul in the build-up to the goal. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared with 1 point awarded to each team, or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shoot-out.

Internationally, association football is governed by FIFA. Under FIFA, there are six continental confederations: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA. Of these confederations, CONMEBOL is the oldest one, being founded in 1916. National associations (e.g. the FA in England, the U.S. Soccer in the United States, Canada Soccer in Canada, Football Australia in Australia, New Zealand Football in New Zealand, etc) are responsible for managing the game in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and coordinating competitions in accordance with the Laws of the Game. (Full article...)

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German women's national football team in Frankfurt, after winning the 2007 World Cup

The German women's national football team represents Germany in international women's football and is directed by the German Football Association (DFB). The team played its first international match in 1982. The German national team is one of the most successful in women's football. They are the two-time reigning world champions, having won the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Germany is the only nation which has won both the men's and the women's World Cup. The team has won six of the nine UEFA European Championships, claiming the last four titles in a row. Germany has won three bronze medals at the Women's Olympic Football Tournament, finishing third in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

Women's football was long met with scepticism in Germany and official matches were banned by the DFB until 1970. However, the popularity of the women's national football team has grown since the team won their first World Cup title. (Full article...)

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Gilberto Silva

Gilberto Aparecido da Silva, commonly known as Gilberto Silva, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder.

He began his football career in 1997 with América Mineiro, where good form earned him a move to Atlético Mineiro in 2000. He became a star player for Atlético, playing for three years in the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. He came to particular prominence when he helped the Brazilian national team win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, playing in all seven of Brazil's matches.

In August 2002, for a fee of £4.5 million, he joined Arsenal with whom he won the 2004 FA Premier League, and two FA Cup trophies. In his first five seasons with the club he played 208 games and scored 23 goals, including scoring Arsenal's first competitive goal at the newly built Emirates Stadium on 19 August 2006. He was made vice-captain of Arsenal in 2006 and is contracted to the club until June 2009. In 2007 he was selected as Brazil captain for the Copa América tournament, which Brazil went on to win. (Full article...)

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The Scottish Football Association (Scottish Gaelic: Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA include clubs in Scotland, affiliated national associations as well as local associations. It was formed in 1873, making it the second-oldest national football association in the world. It is not to be confused with the Scottish Football Union, which is the name that the SRU was known by until the 1920s.

The Scottish Football Association is a member of both UEFA and FIFA and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which is responsible for the Laws of the Game. It is based at Hampden Park in Glasgow. In addition, the Scottish Football Museum is located there. (Full article...)

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... that Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?
... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?
... that goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse, who has lived in England, Africa and the US, has been chosen to play soccer for the Republic of Ireland?
... that Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?
... that football manager Darren Moore led Sheffield Wednesday to promotion even after they lost the first leg of their play-off semi-final 4–0?
... that Carlton Town F.C., now competing at the eighth tier of the English football pyramid, was once denied promotion by a hat-trick scored by future England international Jamie Vardy?

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2006 FA Cup Final

Credit: en.wikipedia user Egghead06

Banners of Liverpool and West Ham were hung from inflatable balloons before the match. 2006 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and West Ham. This was the 125th time the trophy was contested and the last time the final was held in the Millennium Stadium before returning to Wembley for 2007. The score was 3-3 after extra time and the game was ended with a penalty shootout in which Liverpool won the cup for the seventh time in their history.

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Before the match my daughter said: 'Beenie the horse wants to sit next to you by the drinks holder on the touchline'. It is difficult to tell a seven-year-old: 'This is the Premiership, I’m known as Psycho and I'm a hard man'.

— Stuart Pearce, on having a cuddly toy with him on the bench

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More at Wikiquote

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The following are images from various association football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 2Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 3An early draft of the original hand-written 'Laws of the Game' drawn up on behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863 on display at the National Football Museum, Manchester. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 4Florida state vs North Carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 5Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 6Striker Cristiana Girelli and coach Rita Guarino of Juventus in 2019. Juventus is one of the most storied and successful football clubs in Italy. (from Women's association football)
Image 7From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 8Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 9United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 10FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 11Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 12The official record attendance for a women's football match was set at Camp Nou on 22 April 2022, with 91,648 people watching Barcelona defeat Wolfsburg 5–1 (pictured). (from Women's association football)
Image 13The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 14Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 15Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 16Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 17Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 18Cricket and Foot-Ball, one of the earliest books about association football, published by Beadle & Co. in New York in 1000 It contained the rules and laws of the game (from History of association football)
Image 19Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 20Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 21Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 22Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 23Players fighting for the ball during the match between Germany and Norway in UEFA Women's Euro 2009 in Tampere, Finland. (from Women's association football)
Image 24Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 25The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 26Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 27A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 28When first introduced in 1891, the penalty was awarded for offences within 12 yards of the goal-line. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 29Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)

Selected World Cup

The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament (the first was in 1938), defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the ninth time that it was held in Europe. Spanning 32 days, it was the longest World Cup tournament ever held.

Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997. For the first time in the competition, the group stage was expanded from 24 teams to 32, with eight groups of four. 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums in 10 host cities, with the opening match and final staged at the newly built Stade de France in the Parisian commune of Saint-Denis. (Full article...)

List of selected World Cups